How many minutes is the average drive to work in Des Plaines?
Map AI9/10/26, 12:14 PM
Commute Time Burden in Des Plaines: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Des Plaines spend about 52 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 216 hours, about 9.0 full days, spent commuting.
That is 9% more time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.8 minutes each way, a difference of 2.2 minutes.
Des Plaines holds about 0.5% of Illinois's population and accounts for roughly 0.5% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Des Plaines would save about 87 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,684 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Area
One-Way Commute
Daily Round-Trip
Yearly Time Spent
Estimated Yearly Cost
Local Road Traffic (VPD)
Des Plaines
26.0 min
51.9 min
216 hrs/yr
$6,709
3,399
Illinois
23.8 min
47.6 min
198 hrs/yr
$6,148
1,547
United States
22.5 min
44.9 min
187 hrs/yr
$5,803
1,355
The estimated yearly cost applies a single national rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area - treat it
as a rough estimate, not a paycheck figure. Local road traffic counts, vehicles per day
on non-highway roads, come from proprietary
Ticon and
TrafficZoom data.
Des Plaines Commute Map
On average, it takes
26.0
minutes to get to work in
Des Plaines.
That's 16% longer than the 22.5-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
,
followed by
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
.
Most people travel to work by
Car
, followed by
Worked at Home
.
About 11.4%
work from home.
Commute mode distribution
Car:
80.6%
Worked at Home:
11.4%
Public Transportation:
4.2%
Walked:
2.0%
Other:
1.2%
Bicycle:
0.6%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi commuting is unusually low in Des Plaines: 5.7 times less than the Illinois average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
How does Des Plaines's commute time compare?
Metric
Des Plaines
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
26.0 min
23.8 min
22.5 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
11.4%
14.0%
13.4%
Walked
2.0%
2.7%
2.4%
Public Transit
4.2%
6.4%
3.5%
The average commute time in Des Plaines is 26.0 minutes, longer than the 23.8 minutes in Illinois.
4.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 6.4% in Illinois. 2.0% commute by walking, lower than the 2.7% in Illinois.
Common questions about commuting in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Is commuting expensive in Des Plaines, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 216 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,709 at a typical national wage. That's 9% more than the typical Illinois commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Des Plaines, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Des Plaines, Illinois. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.